a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new or improved system to provide foot protection against anti-personnel land mines. The invention is particularly intended for use by military specialists involved in mine clearance operations, although it is likewise suitable for use by other military and civilian personnel.
b) Description of the Prior Art
For many decades the laying of mine fields has been used by various military organizations both official and irregular to deny access or to inhibit movement of enemy personnel in selected locations. The mines are buried or otherwise camouflaged and are designed to explode when actuated by the presence of enemy personnel, being triggered by various means such as trip wires, pressure sensors, etc. Larger mines are deployed for the purpose of destroying or disabling trucks and tracked armoured vehicles, but these mines are in some respects of lesser concern since they are not likely to be triggered by an individual's stepping on them.
Well organized official national armies when deploying a mine field make a practice of preparing a map indicating the location of each mine that is laid, both for the safety of their own personnel, and also with a view to removing the mines after a conflict situation has been resolved. However other military organizations and especially guerillas too often do not prepare proper maps of the location of mines that have been deployed and make no effort whatever to retrieve previously laid mines. Such abandoned mines therefore remain in place constituting for many years a hazard to the lives of wild animals, livestock, and people residing in the vicinity. Every year thousands of people are accidentally killed or maimed by such abandoned anti-personnel mines, and furthermore the presence of mines denies people access to or utilization of large tracts of land.
The clearance of mine fields is extremely dangerous work and is dealt with by specially trained military personnel who are skilled in de-activation and removal or safe detonation of mines. However no level of skill can guarantee against accidental detonation of an antipersonnel mine which has not been detected or which is of a design that is unfamiliar to the mine disposal operative, and accordingly it is necessary to equip the operative with as much protective clothing as is possible without excessively restricting his freedom of movement. Thus it is usual to protect mine clearance operatives by providing clothing and padding which will absorb the blast forces and projectiles created by anti-personnel mines. Such equipment includes protective helmets and foot wear.
Experience has shown that the feet of operatives working on mine clearance are particularly vulnerable to injury, and various proposals have been brought forth to reduce such injuries. Examples of prior proposals for protective footwear are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,720,714 Krohn et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,318,024 Fujinaka et al and U.S. Pat. No. 3,516,181 Jordan.
None of the prior proposals for protective footwear has been entirely satisfactory. Some proposals are too weighty and unwieldy while others do not provide a sufficient spacing of the feet of the operative above the ground in which a mine may be embedded, and still others do not provide sufficient stability for support of the operator. None of the prior protective footwear can avoid the possibility that the operative may tread on and thus detonate a mine located immediately underneath his foot.